In my prior applications, a marble-sized ball is aimed at a target opening. If the ball enters the opening, it drops onto a ball support member, and thereby energizes an electrical toy motor. The toy motor drives multiple disks. The disks are divided into sectors, each sector having its own designation. The motor stops spinning, when the ball rolls off the ball support. The disks stop spinning in a random alignment with each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,073 describes the completion of the circuit to the motor by means of a metal ball rolling down and off two conducting rails, that are part of the ball support. Once the ball rolls off the rails, the circuit is broken and the motor and disks coast to a stop.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,978 describes the completion of the circuit by means of a glass marble, rolling down and off a plastic resilient ball support member. The weight of this marble on the support causes the support to move downward. An electrical contact mounted on the underside of the ball support, makes an electrical connection to a metal plate beneath it, thereby closing the circuit to the motor. Once the ball rolls off the ball support, the support returns to its unweighted position. The electrical contacts open, and the motor and the disk's rotation coasts to a stop. In both of the cited methods of completing the electrical circuit to the motor, the motor activation time is dependent on the time it takes for the ball to roll down and off the ball support. In certain instances, the ball will roll so rapidly that the motor does not get a chance to reach a useful speed; in other instances the ball will fail to roll down the support, thereby causing the motor to stay on indefinitely. In this case, it is necessary for the player to tilt the game apparatus, so as to cause the ball to roll off the support.